


Wait, That's Too Many People, Please Stop

by kemoiunder



Series: The Mage and His Familiar [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: A lot of explaining for not a lot of payoff I'm sorry, Demon!Akaashi, Demon!asahi, Demon!goshiki, Demon!kyoutani, Demon!shirabu, Demon!sugawara, Demon!tendou, Demon!ushijima, Demon!yahaba, Demon!yamamoto, Fluff, M/M, Mage AU, Mage!Ennoshita, Ryuu needs to visit the demon kingdom, Yuu still owns an apothecary, demon!Kenma, demon!Tanaka, fluffy fluff, it's fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-06-06 12:14:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15194570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kemoiunder/pseuds/kemoiunder
Summary: Tanaka has some business he needs to take care back in the Demon Kingdom, and Ennoshita just has to come along. Who out of the demon's associates will he meet? All of them? Probably.Fluff, also this took way longer than I thought, it is also a lot longer than I thought it would be. I tried to explain enough about the 'world' I made, hopefully it makes sense~. This comes from an idea I made from an EnnoTana fanzine, and the idea just evolved into this huge world.





	Wait, That's Too Many People, Please Stop

Living with Ryuu was different, Chikara found. It was strange living with a demon, for one, strange waking up from a restful sleep, which was already a strange phenomenon to the mage, only to find the demon already awake and doing domestic things. These domestic things included cooking, cleaning, meditating, but all came to a stop once Chikara made himself known, and Ryuu would always greet him and ask if he slept well. This morning was no different.

“Sleeping Beauty has awakened. Have a fitful rest?”

Chikara still wasn’t used to this, this domestic thing they had going on. He still blushed just as much as he did when they originally met each other, even though that was only a couple weeks before. 

“Yep, rested and ready to tackle the world,” he raised his fists in the air to accentuate this, and Ryuu let out a chuckle at the sight. He almost missed Ryuu’s, “It may just be,” that was mumbled under the demon’s breath, but it made Chikara look at him sharply, not even having to voice the question to ask it.

“I may have some business to attend to today.” Chikara was flabbergasted at the other’s words, as much time as the two spent together, Ryuu had never needed to do anything that involved business. He briefly wondered if it was going to be dangerous work, but he surmised that Ryuu would explain when the time came. His own medicinal business had been going steady the past couple weeks, all the orders he had had being taken care of that first night he had started the familiar bond with Ryuu. His demon never complained, he always went along with what Chikara wanted. With this in mind, the mage nodded.

“Alright, let’s get started on it, then.” Maybe if they start and finish the business as quickly as possible, they would be able to find more work to do. Ryuu looked over at the mage for a moment before shaking his head.

“It’s not really business that I think you would enjoy, Chikara. I think I’ll have to go at it alone.” Ryuu’s words sounded like he expected Chikara to protest, and he did. The mage snorted.

“You’re insane if you think you’re going without me.” The look that Ryuu gave Chikara made the mage realize that he really had bonded with a Demon General, it was a resigned expression that spoke of an exhaustion that the demon almost never showed. It made Chikara pause and actually think, would this be a dangerous encounter? What would they be doing? He asked Ryuu this.

“It’s not technically dangerous, but it involves meeting with a few of my peers, and visiting my Lord to explain to him why I have not been present lately. Having you there might actually be useful, since it would be proof that I am actually bound to a mage instead of just gallivanting off doing whatever like some of my teammates.”

Now Chikara was intrigued, Ryuu never spoke of the other Demon Generals. Apparently there were four others, along with the Demon King. That was the extent that he knew at least, there could be more leagues of demons out there in the ‘army’ or whatever. Chikara had not ever really concerned himself with it, learning that information, it hardly affected his medicinal brewing or his business.

“Can you tell me more about the other generals?” Chikara’s words were met with a look of disbelief from Ryuu, clearly he didn’t think the mage would want to know.

“There are four, they each serve the Demon King. Each General has their own power tier, I am the second to highest tier. Each General also has a specific element that they have mastered and can use at will. Well, I say mastered in a general sense, most of us have mastered their element.”

Ryuu chuckled at his own words, and it made Chikara wonder if he should find this amusing or not.

“Each General also has a certain sector that they watch over. Without that balance the sectors the generals look over would collapse.” Ryuu’s words made Chikara tense, so his demon’s being here meant that his sector had collapsed?

“That is not to say that my sector has collapsed, I see the look on your face. I have a more than competent Lieutenant that takes care of business when I need. He has more than likely been doing that since I have been here.”

That made the mage even more confused, if there were Lieutenants that could basically do the work of a General, why were they Lieutenants?

“My Lieutenant and I were actually equally matched for General at the time of my placement, the titles are more formal than anything. We mostly run the sector together.”

Chikara nodded, that made sense, “So then why are you suddenly needing to go back?”

Ryuu smirked slightly, “I received a summons from my Lord. His word is law. If he summons me, I must go.”

Chikara nodded, it made sense. He had no knowledge of how these things were run, he hadn’t even been aware of who Ryuu was when he bonded to him. He hoped that the demon wouldn’t think his constant questions were annoying.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

oOoOoOo

Apparently there was a very simple way for demon Generals to get back to their own kingdom. They could do a version of teleportation that would essentially drop them in a random area there. After Ryuu explained it, he told Chikara to grab hold of his arm before it felt like he was being pulled through a tiny hole. He hated it. Once they appeared in the middle of a clearing, Ryuu looked around him briefly before putting his hand on Chikara’s shoulder.

“The first time is always the worst. We found a good spot in any case, it seems we are in the south side of the kingdom.” Ryuu’s words hardly registered as Chikara felt like he was going to throw up. He had to shake his head a couple times before his dizziness went away, then he felt a bit better. He waved his hand as if to assure Ryuu that he was fine, taking in the scenery of where they appeared in. He couldn’t really see much, most of his view was blocked by a huge cloud of dust and dirt, perhaps in the air from their way of transportation?

“Ryuunosuke-san! It’s been a while.”

A voice sounded behind the two of them before the dust could even settle from their ‘teleportation’. By the look on Ryuu’s face, he probably did not expect to encounter someone so quickly.

“Tsutomu, a pleasure.” Ryuu’s words were polite, but his tone made it seem like he did not necessarily like the other person. This Tsutomu looked normal enough, if not for the horns they had. 

“You have a mage with you? Never thought I’d see the day you were ‘tamed’.” Chikara glanced at where Ryuu was standing beside him, before looking back to this Tsutomu person.

“There is no taming whatsoever. We are in a mutually beneficial agreement.” Ryuu’s words were once again polite, but his tone had a harsh edge to it. For all the subtly there, the other demon did not seem like he was taking the hint to drop the conversation.

“Goshiki-san. You are being rude. You should apologize this instant.” The voice belonged to another demon appearing to the right of Tsutomu. 

“Ahh, but Shirabu! I was just saying-“ A hand was quick to raise itself to cut off the other demon.

“It does not matter what you were trying to say. Your words have been taken harshly, and you must own up to them.” Chikara liked this new person, this Shirabu. They seemed like a General. Maybe Tsutomu was their Lieutenant?

The demon in question sighed heavily, as if the world was suddenly resting of their shoulders, “Fine. As my Lieutenant has stated, I have overstepped my boundaries, and I apologize. My words, though they may have seemed harsh, were not said in earnestness.”

Chikara was confused. He thought the levelheaded demon was the one in charge, but apparently it was the rude one, "Ryuu, how can he be a General?" 

Ryuu let out a bark of laugher, "He is the newest General that has been promoted. He has very strong magic, but it is uncontrolled. He has little control over his elements, which causes many problems." 

The General in question let out a squawk, "Oi! I have plenty control over my elements, Ryuunosuke-san! Ushijima-san promoted me because I'm the best!" Ryuu let out a scoff at that comment.

"Our Lord promoted you because he needed a General for your sector and you are easy to control." Chikara was confused by the argument happening, but he didn't feel like he needed to understand. This seemed to be more politics than anything, and he never cared too much for politics. The demon Shirabu didn’t look like he wanted to add anything to the conversation, or in their case argument. The demon in question was simply looking past the group, almost into the clouds, apparently finding something in them.

"Goshiki-san, we must be going back to the North." Shirabu seemed like such a better candidate for being General, Chikara didn't understand why the other demon had been promoted, regardless of how 'easy' or 'difficult' it might be to control them.

The General in question raised his head to look up at the sky. He narrowed his gaze and seemed to be find something, "You're right, Shirabu! Let's go."

Not even giving Ryuu and him another glance, the General took off on giant silver and purple wings, making Shirabu sigh, "I apologize for him. We will probably see you before you leave, Tanaka-san. Good day to the both of you."

The other demon joined his General in the air, leaving Chikara and Ryuu to their own devices.

"Shirabu is such a tool." A voice similar to Ryuu’s sounded behind them, drawing the attention of the left individuals. Chikara turned to see two other people walking to the clearing they were in, they looked mean. One had his head shaved on the sides to just reveal a bleached stripe in the middle, while the other was almost the complete opposite, having two thin stripes of dark hair on the sides of his head while the rest of his hair was blond.

“Tora! Ken! What are you guys doing this far south?” Ryuu’s voice sounded genuinely happy this time, the difference from the moment before so stark it was almost comical.

“I was on patrol, and Kentarou and I crossed paths. I was walking him to his meeting with Yahaba.” At the mention of this Yahaba person, the demon in question flushed slightly. 

“I’m a General, Tora. You don’t need to escort me to my rendezvous with Shigeru.” The demon in question, Kentarou, turned a bit, but Chikara could clearly see red tinting his cheeks and ears. Clearly this demon and the Yahaba Shigeru were close. Maybe he was another General?

“So, Ryuunosuke! I heard you have a familiar bond now! I didn’t expect you to bring him so soon to our kingdom.” Chikara glanced to the side to witness Ryuu’s ears tinted a slight pink. 

“I received a summons from Ushijima-sama, and he wanted to accompany me.” Ryuu gestured to where Chikara was standing, and the other two demons seemed to study the mage intently. Chikara could only describe both of their stares as intense, where one just looked really mean, the other looked fairly critical.

“I don’t know what you said to get him to bond with you, but it must have been something pretty great.” That came from the demon with his head shaved on either side. A snort from Ryuu followed.

“Yeah, he yelled at me and told me that if I used my powers for evil then he wanted nothing to do with me.” The other two demons seemed surprised as they looked back over to Chikara. The mage shrugged, he had needed to get his priorities straight otherwise the demon could have walked all over him. ‘Tora’ let out a loud laugh.

“I love it! Ryuunosuke has needed someone to keep him in line for centuries. I am Yamamoto Taketora, Ryuunosuke’s Lieutenant, and this guy is Kyoutani Kentarou, our resident Earth General.” Now that Chikara knew what element one of the Generals had, he really wanted to know which one that Ryuu had control over.

Kyoutani nodded at the introduction, before looking up to the sky, “I hate to ditch you guys, but I can feel Shigeru’s impatience from here. I’ll see you before you leave. It was nice meeting you, Ennoshita-san.”

“Chikara is fine.” The mage felt like he was going to be saying this a lot. He hated formalities, which was why he had decided to give Ryuu a nickname almost as soon as he met the demon. Kyoutani nodded again.

“Chikara then, I might see you and Ryuunosuke before you leave our kingdom. Take care.” And then with a strength that Chikara did not realize the demon possessed, he jumped into the air as if flying in a random direction; to Chikara at least. Maybe there were demons who had wings and ones who did not? It would explain the different travel methods than the previous demons that they had met previously. Chikara surmised that he had many questions for Ryuu once they went home, in any case.

“Ah, but that reminds me, Ryuunosuke, why are you back? It couldn’t be because you missed us weirdos. Giving a tour to your bond?” Chikara felt his cheeks flush with the wording the other demon used. Was that how demons saw familiar bonds? It sounded like they may as well be married! He glanced at Ryuu, and saw that the demon’s ears were a bit pink, but otherwise unaffected by the question.

“I received a summons from Ushijima-sama.” Yamamoto nodded as if that was the only answer needed for his question. Yamamoto nodded at Ryuu’s answer, clearly that was enough to bring the demon back to their kingdom. Chikara was now both more eager and more nervous to meet the Demon King in question.

“Then I’ll leave you to that! We’ll catch up later. It was nice meeting you, Chikara.” And with those words, wings sprouted from the demon’s back. They were different though, where the ones from before had feathers and looked more like bird wings, Yamamoto’s looked more like furry dragon wings. Chikara wondered if Ryuu had wings like that, or if the demons had wings that went along with their demon form. In that case, then Ryuu wouldn’t have wings, since his demon form was a Chinese dragon. Chinese dragons could still fly, but they didn’t have wings. He’d have to ask Ryuu about it. He might have to start making a list of all the questions he had at this point. 

“Let’s go and see Ushijima-sama, Chikara.” The mage glanced over at his demon, and Ryuu seemed to have an air of determination about him. Maybe he was finally feeling a bit nervous about bringing a mage to their kingdom? He didn’t have much time before Ryuu took ahold of his arm and he felt the uncomfortable feeling of his strange teleportation again.

The demon was right, the first time was much worse, but the second time was still very bad. Instead of feeling like he was going to throw up his entire insides, Chikara only felt like he would throw up his stomach; big improvement.

“What’s the big idea, Ryuu? Warn a guy!” Chikara couldn’t exactly complain though, he had asked to come on this little excursion himself.

“Sorry, Chikara. I didn’t want to bump into anyone else before we made it here.” The demon at least looked apologetic. Now feeling like he wasn’t going to die, Chikara looked up and saw that the two were a little ways away from the front of a huge castle. There was even a moat, but the drawbridge was already lowered. Clearly the Demon King was expecting people, otherwise he wouldn’t have left the drawbridge down. 

While the two walked towards the castle, Chikara had a bit of time to observe the outside. It was impressive, but not garish like he had expected from a King. Before he knew it Ryuu was pulling him across the drawbridge and through huge doors that lead to an entranceway. There were guards inside, but they all relaxed as soon as they saw that it was Ryuu that had opened the doors. Clearly they all knew the demon, and were not suspicious of anyone that the demon chose to bring with him, since they did not seem distrustful of Chikara at all.

“Don’t we have to wait somewhere?” Chikara had no idea how these kinds of things went down, he just made his medicine and went about his own life, completely cut off from almost everything else. He knew none of the etiquette for this kind of thing, and Ryuu chuckled a bit in response.

“You will soon find that my Lord is very different than most rulers you might know of.” That didn’t technically help Chikara whatsoever. He still had so many questions! He had no time to even ask them though, as Ryuu pushed open a door that led to a huge room. At the very end of the room, was a huge throne. Sat upon it was an impressive looking demon with huge horns on his head. They seemed to split into four or six different sets of horns all around his head, almost like a crown. He was clearly the demon in charge, his face impassive until he recognized who had opened the doors. No one spoke until Chikara and Ryuu had made it a ‘respectable’ distance away from the throne, before Ryuu dropped down to one knee in reverence.

“My Lord.”

Chikara could hear the deference in Ryuu’s words, and the mage looked closely to how the Demon King responded.

“Ryuunosuke, it is a pleasure to have you back among my kingdom.” The Demon King’s voice was deep, as deep as a black void. The voice, as deep as it was, was not unkind though. Chikara expected a Demon King to have seemed much harsher than this. 

“Oi! Ryuunosuke! It’s been a while~! Where’ve you been?” A flash of red was all the mage saw before there was a flurry in front of the two of them. He could instantly tell that Yuu and this person would have gotten along.

“Hello, Satori. I have been needed elsewhere. As you can see, I am now bonded to a mage.” Suddenly wide, sharp eyes were looking at him, and if Chikara had been anyone else, he might have been intimidated. But Chikara was used to dealing with overbearing people, so he merely smiled and said a quick, “Hello.”

“Ohh, my stare does not make him cower. I approve!” Chikara looked to Ryuu for an explanation.

“Satori, My Lord’s Lieutenant, has an ability that causes lesser demons to tremble before him. The fact that you were not affected by it means you are a formidable adversary.” Chikara nodded, and then looked to see how the Demon King was taking this conversation. If anything, he looked intrigued by Chikara’s skill, as seemingly useless as that skill might be.

“Are you not going to introduce your mage to your Lord?” If anything, the Demon King’s words could be meant as teasing, the warmth in his tone could not be mistaken for anything else. Everything Chikara thought he would find when they went to the Demon Kingdom was wrong.

“My apologies, my Lord. This is Chikara Ennoshita, a white mage.” Chikara couldn’t help taking small offense to being labeled as a white mage, even if that was what he was. 

“So you only deal in medicines? Bo~ring!” Chikara bristled slightly at the red haired Lieutenant’s words. He could have delved in any form of magic he had wanted, but he chose to use his power for healing. He could not understand how that could be perceived as boring. He brewed many different medicines, some so complex no lesser mage could ever hope to mimic them. It seemed Ryuu noticed the heated look Chikara was giving the other demon.

“I am sure you understand, Satori, that white mages are as rare as they come. They must have an excess amount of magic in order to create their different concoctions, and not many mages go to the trouble of learning such an intense range of magic. I do not think Chikara is ‘boring’ at all.” Chikara looked back at Ryuu when he said this, heat flooding his cheeks. He knew that the demon respected him, but he didn’t know that he had enough knowledge about the mage arts to be aware that what Chikara did with his magic was a choice and not something he just had to do. That made it all the more rewarding for him, in particular.

“I must agree with Ryuunosuke, dealing in medicinal magic is very difficult work. I respect your craft, Ennoshita-san.” Chikara was surprised it was the Demon King that responded to that. He was staring at Chikara with an intensity that he didn’t know how to respond to. 

“He must be pretty powerful to be able to bond with Ryuunosuke, indeed! Sorry about that, Ennoshita-san~.” The mage was confused by the complete 180 that the demon was giving him now, but apparently his Lord saying that he respected Chikara was the ticket there.

“Chikara, please. I care little for titles.” The Demon King nodded at Chikara’s comment.

“I also apologize for my Lieutenant. I am Ushijima Wakatoshi and this is my second in command, Tendou Satori. Please call me Wakatoshi. It is a pleasure to meet you and welcome you to my kingdom, Chikara.” 

Chikara could feel his cheeks flooding in embarrassment, he hated being the center of attention.

“My Lord, I have come because of your summons. Please tell me what you would have me do for you.”

For the first time, the Demon King, Ushijima, looked surprised. It was on and off his face so quickly Chikara almost missed it.

“You received a summons from me? I have no knowledge of this.” Ushijima’s words made Chikara confused. He didn’t actually summon Ryuu? Why did they even come to the Demon Kingdom then? His confusion must have shown on his face, because Ryuu quickly smiled at Chikara in reassurance. 

“Satori, is this your doing?” The Lieutenant in question stood still for a moment with a blank face, before breaking into a series of giggles. His giggles then transformed into full out laughter. Chikara could only describe it as being a one of a kind laughter. A couple of snorts and snickers later, and the demon calmed down enough to explain. Apparently he had sent Ryuu a fake summons as a joke, but he didn’t even sign it by Ushijima, he left the signature blank, thinking that Ryuu would just know it was a joke summons. 

Ushijima sighed, “I thank you for taking a summons seriously, Ryuunosuke, and I apologize for you having to come here for no reason.” Ryuu waved his hand as if waving away the apology. 

“It is always an honor to visit you, my Lord.”

The pleasantries started up again, Chikara could tell that they would probably take a little while longer. The two said goodbye to the Demon King and his Lieutenant, Tendou apologizing for his prank, but still also laughing about it. Ushijima made them promise to visit again soon, otherwise he would send an official summons, whatever that meant. Ryuu seemed to take it seriously though, so Chikara could only wonder; his list of questions only grew. Before he knew it, the two were walking back out of the huge castle as quickly as they had entered it; or not so quickly. Apparently they had spent a long time within the castle with the Demon King, but Chikara didn’t own a watch, too much hassle. 

“I am surprised you brought an outsider with you to our kingdom, Tanaka-san.” A soft voice sounded to the left of the two as they were reaching the outer ring of the castle, past the moat. Chikara turned and was met with one of the most beautiful men he had ever encountered. He was accompanied by a man that was just as beautiful, their features almost looking angelic. The only offset to those features were the black and white wings one of them had, and the red and black wings the other had. Like the difference between the other General, Goshiki Tsutomu, and Yamamoto, there was also a difference in the kind of wings the two had. The one with black and white wings had the feathers, while the red and black had wings that Chikara could only describe as furry. 

“How many times do I have to tell you, Keiji-kun, please call me Ryuunosuke.” The man with the black and white wings smiled a bit, nodding his head.

“Once more. We have not seen you in some time. Kenma and I were worried something had happened to you.” At the mention of his name, ‘Kenma’ looked up from where he had his nose buried in a book and seemed to notice there were other people present.

“It was mostly Keiji.” This Kenma sounded bored, Chikara could have laughed at the outright impassiveness the demon displayed. 

“Ah, but where are our manners. My name is Akaashi Keiji, the Wind General of the East, and this is my Lieutenant, Kozume Kenma.” Chikara introduced himself as well, telling the two demons to go ahead and call him ‘Chikara’ to save the breath for later when they would inevitably call him ‘Ennoshita-san’.

“Hn. A white mage..” Kozume had fully lowered his book when Chikara introduced himself, and was staring at him a little bit too intensely. 

“What Kenma means, Chikara-san, is that white mages are very rare. He has never seen one in the flesh before.” Akaashi’s words seemed to translate what Kozume didn’t say out loud, which seemed like it was a normal thing for the Lieutenant. The mage nodded, still unsure if it was weird or not, while Ryuu squawked that it only took a single request for Akaashi to call Chikara by his first name, but with Ryuu he still didn’t.

“Nn. Chikara, we’ll see you again.” Both Ryuu and Akaashi seemed surprised by Kenma’s words, as if he hardly ever spoke, much less a farewell to someone he had only just met. 

“Ah. Kenma is correct. We were also summoned by Ushijima-sama.” Ryuu and Chikara looked at each other, was it another one of Tendou’s pranks? Probably not, Chikara decided that Akaashi would probably know if it was a prank or not. The two angelic-looking demons said their farewells and started to walk across the moat towards Ushijima’s castle, Ryuu still slightly pouting from before. He and Ryuu waved them off one last time before turning to walk back in the direction Ryuu had pointed to.

“I want to get to a teleportation area. No one is allowed to teleport so close to the castle.” Chikara nodded, it made sense. Not being allowed to teleport directly into the castle was probably a good safety measure. 

“I’m surprised we’re meeting so many of my peers on this trip though. Normally I would usually only see Tora or Ken. But we’ve seen every single one of the Generals, besides one.” Well, now Chikara was curious to know who the last General was. He was also a bit confused as to how they ended up meeting every single one of the different Generals. They didn’t meet every single Lieutenant though, they never officially met Kyoutani’s Lieutenant, Chikara only heard of him in passing. He didn’t know how to ask to meet the last General though, so Chikara instead asked if they were going home soon.

“Yeah, we’ll probably just head back once we get to the edge of the anti-teleportation wards.” It seemed like a solid plan, they would go back to Chikara’s apartment, maybe do a couple of backlog orders to make sure his inventory was fully stocked, and maybe go visit Yuu at his apothecary. 

Apparently the wards didn’t extend too far, just a little less than a mile from the castle itself. Chikara took a deep breath, slowly releasing it before taking Ryuu’s outstretched hand. The mage had never realized before, but the demon’s hands were very warm. Calloused, no doubt from wielding more weapons than Chikara could ever hope to understand, but not too rough. They were nice hands. He didn’t have much more time to fathom that thought before he felt the sickening feeling of teleporting again, this time directly into his apartment. The only thing unsettled upon their arrival was a single piece of paper, which held a shopping list that the two had put together over the past couple of days. 

“We’re home!” Chikara sighed and he stretched his arms above his head, trying to ignore the feeling of nausea in the back of his throat. 

“Welcome back~.” Both Chikara and Ryuu turned swiftly at the response to his statement. They surely weren’t expecting a pair of demons to be sitting on Chikara’s couch. One looked like he was right at home, sunken down into the couch and looking like he just woke up from a nap, while the other looked really uncomfortable.

“Well, speak of the devil and he shall appear.” Ryuu’s muttered words confused Chikara. Did that mean these were the General and Lieutenant that they hadn’t met? The demon who looked more comfortable looked very soft, he had ashy gray hair and a mole at the corner of his left eye. He had pure black feathered wings, same as the other demon. The other demon, though he looked very uncomfortable, also looked just as scary as Yamamoto and Kyoutani did. He had long brown hair that was pulled up into a bun, and had a goatee that made his face look even more intimidating. 

“Sorry we broke in without asking, Tanaka-san..” The voice of the scary-looking demon though, he had to rethink his appraisal; he sounded almost meek, it was weird. The other demon elbowed him in the side.

“I’m sure he doesn’t mind, do you, Ryuunosuke?” Where the demon beside Chikara had tensed when they had initially heard a voice, once they had turned to see who had been in the apartment with them, he had instantly relaxed. Apparently his demon didn’t think they were any threat, so Chikara automatically relaxed as well. Why worry if his demon wasn’t? 

“I wouldn’t, if it was my apartment, Suga. But it’s Chikara’s.” Ryuu gestured towards Chikara with his thumb, and the gray-haired demon’s eyes cut towards him now. 

“Ah! Then I apologize. I am Sugawara Koushi, please call me Suga; everyone else does.” The demon smiled, and he looked even less threatening than he did before, which wasn’t much at all. Chikara introduced himself once again, and told them to call him ‘Chikara’, almost tired of introducing himself, what with all the introductions they had that day.

“Nice to meet you, Chikara-san. I am Azumane Asahi, Water General of the West. Suga is my Lieutenant, by the way.” Chikara tried to not let his surprise show on his face. He thought the roles were reversed once again, like with Goshiki and Shirabu. But he guessed that just because one demon seemed more outgoing than the other did not take their measure of power into consideration. He also didn’t know how the promotions to General and Lieutenant worked at all. He was seriously going to have to get a pen and pad to write all his questions down, they were piling up too much. 

“So, not that your company is unwanted, what are you guys doing here?” Ryuu going to the big questions straight away, Chikara was proud of his demon.

“I heard from Kenjirou that you had a mage with you, so I wanted to see for myself~.” Suga answered, and Chikara could tell it really was just the Lieutenant that had wanted to come. Azumane just looked like he wanted to not break into other people’s houses, which just translated into looking uncomfortable. 

“Kenjirou..?” Ryuu looked back to Chikara at his question.

“Shirabu Kenjirou, the Lieutenant that we met first. With Goshiki Tsutomu.” Now Chikara remembered! They hadn’t technically introduced themselves, so Chikara was confused.

“Yes~. Kenjirou said you were bonded, and I was very curious.” At that, Sugawara stood from where he had still been sitting on Chikara’s couch, and walked over to stare intently at the mage. He really wanted to ask Ryuu his questions. Why was it so hard to believe that Ryuu was bonded to a mage? Was it so weird for demons to become bonded? The way Yuu had described familiar bonds, a lot of mages did them. Maybe it was because Ryuu was a General to the Demon King?

“Well, you’ve seen him. We have a lot of work to do.” Ryuu’s words were harsh, but his tone was still friendly, almost teasing. Azumane had also stood from the couch, and nodded. Chikara was surprised by how tall the other General was, he was at least six feet tall, compared to both Ryuu and Chikara’s own five foot nine height. Where Ryuu lacked in height though, he made up for in muscles, as he was much more buff than the taller General.

“We’ve already overstayed our welcome. Let’s go, Suga..” Chikara waved his hand, as if waving off the statement.

“You two are welcome to come back anytime, it’s just today has been very long. Any friends of Ryuu are welcome.” Suga snickered at the nickname that Chikara called his demon. 

“’Ryuu’, huh? And Ryuunosuke never let me give him a nickname before~.” Sugawara looked to be pouting, while Ryuu looked slightly annoyed at having the nickname called out by someone who wasn’t Chikara. That confused the mage once again, he did wonder though. Not even Yamamoto had called Ryuu by a nickname, and the other two demons in that group had their own nicknames, ‘Tora’ and ‘Ken’ respectively. Maybe his demon didn’t like nicknames?

“Do you hate them?” Chikara had to ask, he would learn to start calling Ryuu by his full name if the demon hated them.

“Hahh? No, not when you say it.” Ryuu turned away, but Chikara caught a slight tint of pink on the demon’s face. Was he embarrassed? He had too many questions. Too many questions to even ask at this point. He had a lot to learn. 

“Suga..” Azumane’s voice finally sounded more like a General, it sounded a little dangerous.

“Yes yes, Asahi, I know~. We’ll see you again!” And with that being said, the two demons spun on their heels and teleported out of Chikara’s apartment. The only sign that they were even there was the slight moving of a single piece of paper on the coffee table in front of the couch where they were sitting. 

Ryuu didn’t waste any time in trudging over to the couch and sinking down onto it, letting out a big sigh. Chikara didn’t quite know what to do, so he followed suit and sat on one of the other chairs he had in his apartment, across from the couch. 

“Well, that was a day,” Ryuu’s voice sounded exhausted, as if he was holding in his own tiredness until they were back home, “sorry for dragging you around all day only to have it be because of a prank.”

Chikara shook his head, “I don’t see it as a waste, I got to meet almost all of your peers. That was exciting.” 

Ryuu chuckled slightly, “You also invited them all to visit whenever they wanted to, we’ll have to move.”

Apparently saying that ‘any of Ryuu’s friends are welcome anytime’ meant that any of the Generals and Lieutenants, including Ushijima and Tendou, were invited whenever they felt like visiting. Chikara had groaned when he was made aware of this. His demon ended up answering most of the question that Chikara remembered from throughout the day. The Generals all harbored an element, he had already known Kyoutani’s was earth, Akaashi’s was wind, and that Asahi’s was water. What he hadn’t known was that Ryuu’s element was fire, and that Goshiki’s was a strange combination of ‘life and death’. That had needed more explaining. Apparently it meant that Goshiki had a lot of responsibility to the kingdom, and that he was a successor for Ushijima if the Demon King ever died or retired. Chikara didn’t even try to understand all of it. He really only understood that Goshiki apparently didn’t fully have control over his ‘element’, so Ushijima had to keep it mostly sealed otherwise it could hurt a lot of people. Also, each demon General was in control of a certain part of the kingdom, but a couple of them were larger than others. Akaashi’s East part of the kingdom was significantly larger than Goshiki’s North part of the kingdom, while Asahi’s West part of the kingdom was slightly smaller than Ryuu’s own South part of the kingdom. Kyoutani’s South part of the kingdom was in between Akaashi’s and Ryuu’s, it sounded like all the Generals had a fairly similar amount of territory except Goshiki, who had a much smaller chunk in the North. In the middle was Ushijima and his castle, he had a perimeter around his castle, but other than that he hardly had any ‘land’, which meant that most of the Demon Kingdom was delegated across his Generals. 

He also learned that a demon’s true form decided if they had wings or not. Ryuu himself could fly, but he didn’t have wings, and Chikara’s theory was true; it was because he was a Chinese dragon and they didn’t have wings. All in all, the mage learned a lot of different things from the list that he had from the day. There were also a lot of questions that he forgot, he really should have been making a list. Ultimately, it was a lot of information to take in for one day, Chikara was sure he would have to ask more questions at another time.

One of the more important things that he learned too though, is that it was basically unheard of for a mage to bond with a Demon General. Ryuu had been the first, at least in his circle, that had bonded with a mage; which made Chikara feel a bit bad. He could tell that his demon didn’t like being in the spotlight, like himself, and having this bond would probably put them both in the spotlight in the future.

“I don’t regret bonding with you, Chikara. Just remember that.” Those embarrassing words were accompanied by the first full on blush that Chikara had seen on the other. He could only respond with a blush of his own, those words were just too embarrassing. That was another thing they would eventually have to discuss, their bond to each other and what that meant, aside from their power being shared in order to complete Chikara’s medicinal orders. The way the other demons mentioned their bonding made it seem like it was a bigger deal for the Generals than Yuu had described, as if they were married or something of the like. 

“Does our bonding mean something different to demons than it does to mages?” Chikara’s question, while blunt, was very straight forward. He didn’t really believe in beating around the bush though, he liked to get information the quickest way possible. The way Ryuu was responding to his question kind of confirmed it though.

His blush was even more pronounced, “A little bit different. When you initially called me I thought you were going to start a war or something. That’s usually my thing; wars. Tora and I are the battle-ready Generals of the group. So when you were vehemently against ‘evil’ things, I thought you would eventually resent me for my usual calling. Your spunk made me want to bond with you though. Bonding to demons means we’re going to be together forever, since demons don’t really die unless we’re killed.”

Chikara wasn’t too surprised at the confession. Ryuu seemed like the toughest General of the group after all, he wondered which General was stronger than him. He said before that he was the second strongest out of his peers. That could come at a later time though.

“So, we’re bonded for life?” Chikara’s words were met with an even deeper blush. He briefly wondered how red he could make Ryuu before he eventually combusted. 

“Yeah, essentially.” The mage didn’t exactly mind being bonded to the demon. They made a good team. If anything, it just made it more official to hear that the two were essentially going to be together for the rest of Chikara’s life. Of course, it was said that mages could live a lot longer than ordinary humans did, with different forms of magic. He wondered if Ryuu would want him to research that, or if he just wanted Chikara to live out his life the normal span, and to die at a ripe old age and leave him behind. He guessed demons were basically immortal, from what he said before. That was a road to travel in the coming future, not that day. But Ryuu did say that he didn’t regret bonding with him, so maybe he actually liked doing his minuscule orders and being around Chikara.

Chikara could only hope that they continued to get along in the coming time they spent together. And the growing attraction that the mage was starting to feel for his demon; now that was another story altogether. He only hoped that Ryuu would either reciprocate or be too dense to notice. Chikara could only hope, and look forward to it.


End file.
